we are back

Back at the ranch - aka Salt Lake City. Good to be home although we had to put Sadie down on Sunday. I like to think that she waited for us to return before she took her final slide downhill. I think she really did. Craig said she was in terrible shape and then we got home and she rallied, going up and down stairs and eating a couple of meals after days of only broth. But by Sunday it was clearly all over and we are now dog-less which is odd. Today, hunting for 409 I found three spray bottles of pet stain treatment stuff for carpets. I am not sad those days are gone...

The big excitement of the last two days was the arrival of "the bins". In Salt Lake City proper there is a big garbage window when you can put all your large items out on the curb and they are eventually collected. In Salt Lake County where we live, it is more circumscribed. The county delivers dumpsters (skips, for my English readers) every block or so and they sit there for exactly 24 hours. During this time you can cram as much junk into them as you like. I got home yesterday and called Craig with the rallying cry "the bins are here" and he rushed home. We dragged out the mountain of tree limbs we had pruned and then threw in glass shower wall and door and so on. During "bin time" the streets are driven by latino guys looking for scrap metal and any other salable items. We got rid of an old exercise bike, weight bench, computer monitor, gas cans, and enormous, heavy old Sony television. Excellent.